Cooper Charitable Foundation

Wishing you a safe and restful Fourth of July. We're thankful for this community and the neighbors who make it stronger every day.

For many people, stable housing comes down to one specific cost at one specific moment. A security deposit. A first month's rent. A utility bill that arrived at the wrong time.

This year, the Cooper Charitable Foundation awarded 164 grants to help people clear exactly those kinds of barriers and find a stable place to land.

Learn more at cooperfoundation.com.

Sometimes the gap between housing stability and eviction is smaller than people think. For Garfield, it came down to two months of missed rent and two diagnoses that changed everything.

Congestive heart failure. A rare autoimmune disease. Back to back, both serious, both requiring time away from work he couldn't afford to lose. While he recovered, rent fell behind. By the time he was back on his feet and earning again, the arrears had put his housing at risk.

Garfield wasn't looking for a way out of his responsibility. He was looking for a way to catch up — help covering what illness had cost him so he could stay in his home and keep moving forward.

Through our partnership with Oak City Cares, the Cooper Charitable Foundation provided a $2,500 grant that cleared two months of past-due rent and prevented eviction. This is what housing stability support looks like in practice. Not a dramatic rescue — just the right help at the right moment.

We’re grateful to work alongside Oak City Cares to make moments like this possible.

A stable home means a child can wake up in the same room, walk to the same bus stop, and go to the same school without wondering what's next.

This year, 170 children had that kind of consistency because their families were able to access stable housing through the Cooper Charitable Foundation's Housing Stability Grant Program.

That's what this work is about.

Learn more at cooperfoundation.com.

Happy Father's Day to the fathers in our community.

A stable home gives children the chance to feel safe, supported, and free to grow. Today, we're grateful for every dad putting in the work to make that possible for his family.

The Dream of a Home fundraiser delivered something we won't forget.

Thanks to the generosity of our guests, sponsors, and supporters, we raised more than $125,000 on the night. Our founder, John Cooper matched every dollar, bringing the evening's total to more than $250,000 for housing stability in our community.

To put that in perspective: since June 2024, the Cooper Charitable Foundation and our partners have issued 164 grants totaling $350,000, helped 333 people find stable housing including 170 children, and contributed $20,000 to the Green Chair Project to help families make their house a home.

A sincere thank you to presenting sponsor Pinnacle Financial Partners, the Conlon Family Foundation, Eliza Olander and Brian McHenry, and Ward & Smith. And to our nine partner organizations doing the daily work of housing stability: Oak City Cares, the Women's Center of Wake County, Wake Tech's Fostering Bright Futures, Healing Transitions, the Carying Place, Family Promise of the Triangle, the Lotus Campaign, Henderson Collegiate, and Green Chair. We are grateful for every one of you.

Full event photos are now live at https://cooperfoundation.com/news/dream-of-a-home-fundraiser-2026-recap/

Venita is 58 and had been working steadily when her employer changed her job location. Without a car, getting to work became a real challenge. She worked through it, coming back with an UMO card for public transportation and a plan to move forward.

The next hurdle was housing. Venita had found a spot at Milner Commons, a new affordable senior community on New Bern Avenue, safe, well-located, and surrounded by people her own age. The only thing standing in the way was the cost of moving in.

Through our partnership with Oak City Cares, Cooper Charitable Foundation provided a $1,200 grant to cover her move-in costs. Venita is now settled into a home that fits her life, close to transit, close to community, and close to everything she needs to keep moving forward.

Stories like hers are exactly why this work matters. If you'd like to support more of them, visit cooperfoundation.com.

Sometimes it's the deposit. Sometimes it's the first month's rent. Sometimes it's an unexpected bill that arrives at the worst possible time.

For people already stretched thin, any one of those gaps can be the difference between stable housing and losing everything.

This year, the Cooper Charitable Foundation helped 333 people clear those barriers and find safe, stable housing. That's what this work is about.

Learn more and make an impact at cooperfoundation.com.

We are thankful for our "Making a Difference" sponsors for the upcoming Dream of a Home fundraiser. Their support reflects a genuine commitment to this community, and every contribution helps create real pathways to housing stability for individuals and families in our area.

Thank you to each and every one of you.

It’s not too late to make a difference! Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Visit cooperfoundation.com or the link in our bio to learn more.